Beyond Participation: Reshaping humanitarian coordination to advance women’s leadership
Overview
Women’s rights organizations (WROs) and women-led organizations (WLOs) play a vital role in humanitarian response, yet their presence in humanitarian coordination spaces does not necessarily translate into influence. Drawing on research from Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, Syria and Yemen, this briefing paper examines the institutional, financial and gendered barriers that constrain WROs/WLOs’ influence over humanitarian decision-making. It identifies the conditions that enable more meaningful influence, including formal authority, adequate resourcing and accessible coordination processes. Oxfam calls on humanitarian actors to move beyond measuring representation towards redistributing decision-making power, creating the conditions for WROs/WLOs to exercise meaningful leadership.
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10.21201/2026.000155How to cite this resource
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